1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to wireless communication systems; and more particularly to a wireless communication system in which a distinctive ringing is employed to notify the user of a mobile unit of an increased billing rate that will be applied to an incoming call.
2. Related Art
Cellular wireless communication systems are generally known in the art to facilitate wireless communications within respective service coverage areas. Such wireless communication systems include a "network infrastructure" that facilitates the wireless communications with mobile units operating within a service coverage area. The network infrastructure typically includes a plurality of base stations dispersed throughout the service coverage area, each of which supports wireless communications within a respective cell (or set of sectors). The base stations couple to base station controllers (BSCs), with each BSC serving a plurality of base stations. Each BSC couples to a mobile switching center (MSC) which also couples to the PSTN, the Internet and/or to other MSCs.
A wireless mobile unit operating within the service coverage area communicates with one or more of the base stations. The base stations route the communications to the MSC via a serving BSC. The MSC routes the communications to another subscribing wireless unit via a BSC/base station path (which may be the same BSC/base station path when the communications are with another subscribing unit serviced by the same base station) or via the PSTN/Internet/other network to a terminating destination.
Various operating standards have been developed to standardize wireless communications. The wireless communication operating standards include, for example, the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) standards, the Global Standards for Mobile Communications (GSM), the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Standards and the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) standards. A standard that is employed in North America for interconnectivity of MSCs is the IS-41 standard. These operating standards set forth the technical requirements that facilitate compatible operation between equipment of differing vendors.
With advances in the structure and operation of modern wireless communication systems, the mobility provided by such systems has also advanced. For example, the user of a mobile unit may roam within most areas in the United States and be supported by a local wireless communication system. In such roaming operation, the user may access the local wireless communication system simply by operating his or her mobile unit as he or she would within his or her own service area. The local wireless communication system will service the call from or to the mobile unit. Thus, mobility has become essentially seamless to the user.
When roaming, however, the fee structure is altered for most mobile unit users. Roaming fees are typically charged on a usage basis when a mobile unit is outside of its "Home Zone" or when a call is terminated to the mobile unit outside of its Originating Rate Center. Further, toll charges are typically assessed for incoming calls that are routed to a roaming mobile unit. However, even when a user is roaming, roaming and toll charges are not always applied. For example, when the call originates from a roamer access port or another mobile unit, toll charges are often not assessed. Further, when a mobile unit receives a call from another mobile unit, roaming charges are not always applied. When receiving an incoming call, the user does not know whether toll charges will be applied or whether roaming fees will apply. It is not until the user receives his or her bill that this information is learned. Thus, the user has no control over these charges and no particular knowledge of when these charges will be assessed.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a wireless communication system in which a user has control over charges that will be applied to his or her usage.